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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29785959">In a Mirror, Darkness</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoeMerl/pseuds/JoeMerl'>JoeMerl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>March of the Monsters 2021 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Demonic Possession, Gen, Horror, I Don't Even Know, Magic Mirrors, Possession, Supernatural Elements, Tags Contain Spoilers, Unhappy Ending</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:53:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,046</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29785959</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoeMerl/pseuds/JoeMerl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The area around my reflection began to darker. And the reflections of everything else in the room, everything except me, began to distort. </i>
</p><p>  <i>I took a step closer to the mirror, narrowing my eyes, wondering what—</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>March of the Monsters 2021 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189316</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In a Mirror, Darkness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>March of the Monsters, Day 2:</p><p>Reflections. Possession. <strike>Vampire.</strike></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I was poking around in the attic when I found it, tucked away in a corner and covered with a dusty cloth. A cheval mirror with a silver frame, which decorated with swirls and weird writing. It was tall and rectangular. I’m not sure where it came from.</p><p>It looked like an antique. It was probably worth a lot of money, assuming that the silver was real. </p><p>As I was glancing it over when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.</p><p>I looked up at the glass. My reflection stared back at me. But for just a moment, I could have sworn that I saw—something. A weird shadow, hovering over my reflection’s shoulder. I looked behind me, then at the mirror again. </p><p>I stared for a few seconds.</p><p>The area around my reflection began to darker. And the reflections of everything else in the room, everything except me, began to distort. </p><p>I took a step closer to the mirror, narrowing my eyes, wondering what—</p><p>I jumped when my parents called my name from downstairs. I called back and left, leaving the mirror uncovered in the dim room.</p>
<hr/><p>A while later, with my parents had left on their trip, I came back up to check out the mirror again. I wanted to see if the weird effect would happen again, and try to figure out what it was. </p><p>I stared at my reflection. My reflection stared back.</p><p>I looked for about thirty seconds. Then, just as I started to look away, the area around my reflection began to darken. My eyes whipped back into place, watching as a black halo slowly formed.</p><p>I glanced briefly at the air around me. Everything was normal. It was just the mirror.</p><p>I turned back to the glass. Everything else in the room was distorting again, like I was watching it through a fog, and then the darkness slowly spread out to cover it. Soon the mirror only showed me, standing in a pitch black background. But somehow even I didn’t look right. My reflection seemed <em> off </em> in some way that I couldn’t quite name.</p><p>This wasn't just some trick of the light, I thought. But what was it? A fake mirror, maybe? Some weirdly realistic Halloween decoration designed to be creepy? </p><p>I kept staring, feeling the hairs on my neck tingle.  </p><p>My reflection began to raise its hand.</p><p>I couldn’t look away. I watched in fascination as my mirror self’s hand slowly went up, now at chest height, now at shoulder height.</p><p>And then I felt my own hand begin to rise, too.</p><p>I wasn’t raising it, and I couldn’t turn to look at it—my eyes were locked in my reflection’s gaze, even as I felt my body move against my will. By now my reflection’s hand was poised above its head, and my own arm copied the movement until the two of us were actually reflecting each other again.</p><p>Then my reflection’s hand flew down, slapping itself in the face.</p><p>A few seconds passed, then my hand did the same thing. I let out a cry at the stinging pain in my cheek, but my eyes couldn’t tear themselves away from the mirror.</p><p>My hand fell back to my side. My heart was hammering in my chest. </p><p>My reflection had a red handmark on its cheek, but it tipped its head to the side, smirking at me. It was a nasty smile that gave my face a sinister look. </p><p>I hated it. And yet I felt my own body follow suit once again, neck turning and lips curling up into the same evil grin.</p><p>My reflection reached out and touched the glass surface of the mirror, as if it were a window and my twin was on the other side. </p><p>And once again, even as I tried to resist, my hand went up and placed itself right over its counterpart. The glass was so cold that it burned my palm.</p><p>I tried to pull away, I wanted to run, but I was frozen. Stuck like this until the thing in the mirror <em>let me</em> walk away. </p><p>My reflection’s mouth began to move, slowly, carefully. I couldn’t hear anything, but with my captive eyes could read its lips.</p><p>
  <em> Let me out. </em>
</p><p>I felt my lips move again, heard my own voice come unbidden from my throat. </p><p>“<em>Come out.</em>”</p><p>And then the burning cold shot up my arm, into my chest and throughout my whole body. I staggered back, hand losing contact with the mirror. For a moment I couldn’t see, couldn’t think, I tried to scream but was unable to breathe.</p><p>I was panting by the time that the pain passed. My eyes wandered up to the mirror. Everything was normal now—no darkness, everything else in the attic was visible, and my reflection copied <em>my</em> movements instead of the other way around.  </p><p>I looked down at myself. Then my fingers began to flex, even though I wasn't trying to flex them. They touched themselves to my chest, to my face. My body straightened on its own accord, rolling my shoulders and taking deep breaths.</p><p>Then I began to laugh. </p><p>Loud, crazed laughter, as though my body was unaware of the terror and confusion that I felt. It laughed for a long time, until my lungs ached and my throat was dry and mind was reeling.</p><p>Then my eyes turned back to the mirror. My lips curled into a sneer.</p><p>My head looked around, eyes scanning the floor. I spotted my old baseball bat in the corner. My legs ran over and my hands grabbed it. Then my arm swung around and smashed it into the mirror.</p><p>
  <em> CRASH! </em>
</p><p>The glass fell to pieces on the floor. My body continued to attack the frame until it fell over. Then my feet began to stomp it, even as incoherent screams issued from my mouth.</p><p>Finally the thing inside me was satisfied. It threw the bat to the ground and glared down at the broken glass. </p><p>It gasped for breath using my lungs, our face and hair damp with sweat. But after a few seconds my spine straightened, my mouth grinned and my body calmly walked out of the room, taking my screaming mind along with it.</p>
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